The Sword and Laser discussion

In addition to all our great discussion here on goodreads, Sword & Laser now has a discord server.

I made a bunch of channels based on things I figured you'd want to discuss, including channels for each of the known/active meetups.

I also created a channel for feedback, but feel free to post it here. We may be tweaking things depending on how it goes. I know Tom's planning to tie some things to the various Patreon roles, but I don't have any specifics to share at this time.

The server is public though, so you don't have to a Patron to join us!

Here's the link: https://discord.gg/e2YUWzz

Ok, I'm on it. Home sick.

Rob, my nontech-ness is going to show. could you clarify what Discord is so I know if I need another userid, password, app, and such? Many thanks. Or is that all spelled out on the podcast I’ve not yet heard?

You would have to make a new account. You can do it within a web browser.

Discord is a chat platform. It started out for gaming, but it's grown to cover a variety of interests.

You would need another account, yes. There are apps for all platforms, but you can use it in a web browser too (I believe)

Discord for newbies

https://medium.com/emissaryguild/disc...

Note: you don't have to join Emissary Guild. Use the link Rob provided to join S&L.

Did anyone else have trouble trying to claim their account? It keeps wanting me to claim the account I've created, but nothing happens when I select "claim"

Are you talking about creating a new discord account or integrating your discord account with the patreon rewards?

Creating a new discord account.

I follow on Patreon with the same email address - could that mess things up?

Hmm, it wants me to claim my account again. But then when I try it says my email is already registered. I'm on a different computer.

Ok, I had to logout then login with my email as the account. Then I had to verify a second ip address. https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en-...

I logged out, and logged back in and it seems to have worked!

Haven't really used Discord and might not be in it much, but pleased to note I had no problems logging in!

Trying to reacclimate myself to the S&L group. I’ve been traveling abroad and trying to reclaim my mastery of the English language as well I guess. Is reacclimate a word?

Bottom line- I need help with this discord thing. I have an account and am logged in. Just don’t know how to add S&L.

P.S. I hope this isn’t the wrong place for this post.

Vasili wrote: "Trying to reacclimate myself to the S&L group. I’ve been traveling abroad and trying to reclaim my mastery of the English language as well I guess. Is reacclimate a word?

Bottom line- I need help..."

I don't mean to be rude, but did you click on Robs link in the first post? That is all I had to do. Are you in a web browser on a computer, or on a mobile device of some kind?

Also, reacclimate is a word in my book, even if my spell check didn't like it. I've used it plenty of times. And I can't think of a better place to post this.

Vasili wrote: "Bottom line- I need help with this discord thing. I have an account and am logged in. Just don’t know how to add S&L.."

I received an email today stating that “thranduel” (is that Rob?) mentioned me on Discord, but all I see is a message from Elizabeth from like 2 years ago or something. The link I clicked just took me to a random page.

I genuinely cannot wrap my head around how Discord works. It’s so weird. Reminds me of the first VCRs that were impossible to program because they were designed by engineers from Saturn or something.

Yeah, Thranduel is my discord tag. I'm not sure when I would have tagged you though.

Personally I love discord. I think it's the best chat app out there right now, but I've been using other services like it for years.

The onboarding via the web is bad. Here's what I do to join new servers:

1) download the Discord app. https://discord.com
2) Open it and find the + in the left side menu. Click that.
3) Find the Join A Server button at the bottom. Click that.
4) It will ask you for the invite link. Copy the link above, paste it here.

Done.

If this is the first server you've joined, you will need an account but this is FAR easier than the silly process they use when you click the link and open the browser. Note that once you have an account you CAN use the browser if you want.

I think Trike is already on the S&L discord, I just think he is having more difficulty in it’s use.

I agree with Rob that I prefer it to most other social media. And I really haven’t used many true chat app’s, mostly forum style places, like this. And I’d say it was a generational thing but TassieDave and John Taloni arehaving fun there. ~shrug~

I do like how it is not as persistent as forums, but can still be searched if you need too. And. Think Rob has done a good job of dividing up the topics.

So what specifically are you having an issue with Trike, maybe we can help.

Rob wrote: "Yeah, Thranduel is my discord tag. I'm not sure when I would have tagged you though.

Personally I love discord. I think it's the best chat app out there right now, but I've been using other servic..."

I get the message "thranduel mentioned you in Sword & Laser" whenever you post an @everyone message.

I got one last when you posted the "Six Wakes" book announcement.

I see peeps have mostly covered what I'd say. And I've even been namechecked! How dare you call me an old fart, sir! Why, I'd be right over there if my knee would cooperate! And there is no truth to the rumor that I might have age related narcolepsy and zzzzz... Anyhoo, here's my POV.

You don't even need the app, just head on over to discord.com and sign up. Yep, we all get tagged when an Admin posts to Everyone and that's mainly Rob.

Paste in the invite URL and you'll get a circular stylized SL icon on the far left. Click that to see threads on the right of the button (still left of the screen.) Click on the threads which are like discussion topics here on goodreads. Post away. Basics include the up-to-the-left Reply button or as I call it, the "back at'cha" button that auto-selects a portion of the post just like Goodreads does with quotes. Spoiler-protect with the grey-boxed eye mini icon that appears when you write.

It's all standard bulletin board type concepts just expressed slightly differently. Get used to the format and everything is much the same as here. Just be careful what you say or you might cause some...(wait for it)...discord!

Tassie Dave wrote: "Rob wrote: "Yeah, Thranduel is my discord tag. I'm not sure when I would have tagged you though.

Personally I love discord. I think it's the best chat app out there right now, but I've been using ..."

Oh, well that would make sense then. However, I'm a bit unclear on how the everyone tag works now that we're over 1000 members. It sounds like there are different rules about it. It typically only tells me it will notify a few hundred people. I'm not sure if they can't accurately tell you how many get notified or if that's only the users currently online.

I know Terpkristin commented how she didn't get notified recently.

Members can, I think, also manage their notifications on things like that. At least they can in the app.

I have the app. I’ve never been notified that someone @ed me before, and when I clicked on the link it took me to a post that was from June 2020. When I use the search feature it just takes me to random pages.

I thought maybe I could do an end-run around the issue by clicking on people’s names/icons and see the comments they’ve made, but apparently you can’t do it.

Yes, I’m an old guy, but I’ve been online since 1985, back when “the internet” was basically just local BBS and a couple universities. So I’ve seen some truly clunky interfaces over the decades, but Discord is either pure garbage in terms of limited functionality or I can’t get into the mindset of whatever blind monkey designed it. No banana for Bobo!

Trike - the app should show servers on the left. If you click on the S&L icon, you should see a list of channels.

So Trike, I just did a search in Discord by user, and it found the few posts you made on 5/23 of this year. I also did a search by mentioned user, and it found the one you mentioned from Elizabeth. Since yesterday, Both Tamahome and myself have also tried tagging you, to see if things show up, and those also were in that search. Now if you just do a general search on the word Trike, more posts pop up where people mentioned you, just not with an @. But I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten notifications for those.

I do think we narrowed down where the newest email notification to you was Rob's everyone post. And yes, I could see where that would be confusing if you than went to discord and didn't see any new mentions from anyone.